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The use of opiate replacements such as methadone in the treatment of drug misuse is to be reviewed in Scotland after accusations that the policy had been a “disaster.”

The latest figures show that the number of drug users taking methadone has risen by 10% in the past five years to 24 507 and that methadone use is now responsible for more deaths (275 in 2011) than heroin (206).

That has led to emotive newspaper campaigns for a rethink of methadone prescribing and claims by the Scottish Conservative health spokesman, Jackson Carlaw, that its use had …

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